


Tales of the Alpha Twins

by stariousfalls



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:30:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7718455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stariousfalls/pseuds/stariousfalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a small collection of Gravity Falls drabbles, short fics, and some one-shots involving Ford and Mabel bonding.</p>
<p>(cross-posted from tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Gift of Sweaters

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #1: The Gift of Sweaters
> 
> Rating: k
> 
> Characters: Mabel Pines, Stanford Pines, Stanley Pines (brief appearance), and Dipper Pines (brief appearance)
> 
> Word Count: ~650
> 
> Summary: Mabel decides to make a new sweater for her Grunkle Ford.

"What's up with the large sweater?" Dipper asked his sister in curiosity, noticing the multiple balls of yarn beside her, as well as the sweater in her lap that appeared to be bigger than her own body.

Mabel shrugged, smiling wide as she continued knitting her next project. "I just thought I'd be nice to make a bigger one, y'know?"

And with that, Dipper just slightly smiled in reply and walked off. Good. Now with her brother off doing his own thing, she could continue with her handiwork in the living room, as another episode of Ducktective played in the background. It wasn't until she heard much larger footsteps that she decided to quickly scrunch up the sweater she was working on, and slip it behind her back before she saw Stan enter the room.

Though she sighed in relief when she realized it wasn't her Grunkle Ford, and casually pulled her handiwork back out onto her lap.

"What'cha working on, kiddo?" Stan questioned as he made his way to the recliner in front of the television, picking up on Mabel's odd behavior as he sat down.

"Oh, y'know—just a new sweater. The usual." She answered with a small smile as she continued to work on her project.

* * *

Before Ford sat on the couch in his room and got himself situated to sleep, he noticed something folded neatly at the edge. As Ford cautiously picked the item up, he saw a something fall to the ground. Out of curiosity he reached down for it, immediately taking notice of the spots of glitter and sparkles that covered the little slip of paper. Turning it over, he then found a little note scribbled in glittery and colorful ink:

_'I noticed your current sweater was a little worn out, so I went and made you one of my top-of-the-line handmade sweaters! I hope you like it!'_

_-Mabel_

He then held out the article of clothing, softly smiling when he noticed its unique design on the front of the red sweater. It almost exactly matched the same color of the sweater he was currently wearing, but bared a lighter shade. His fingers traced along its sleeves, noting how much softer the sweater felt in comparison to his own. Perhaps he could temporarily make a slight adjustment in his appearance.

* * *

Mabel's face brightened when she noticed her other grunkle had come in (and with a slight change in his attire). With a gasp she slid off of her chair and rushed over to Ford, who was currently getting his daily morning dose of coffee.

"Grunkle Ford, you're wearing the sweater I made you!" She gushed as her hands made their way to her cheeks, all smiles.

He softly grinned in reply. "Yes, well—it feels a lot more comfortable than that other one I was wearing."

"Do you like it? Does it fit okay?" Mabel questioned with a quirked brow, hoping that he enjoyed wearing her gift and that she guessed the correct size.

"Of course, Mabel." Ford responded with a nod, ruffling her hair to show his affection. He had to admit, the kid's knitting skills were quite fantastic for her age. "It fits fine—and you can't beat the design!" He added as his grin widened, slightly stretching out his sweater by the hem, revealing its six-fingered hand symbol.

"My work here is done." Mabel said confidently as she let herself out of the kitchen with a satisfied grin. "Oh—and you wouldn't mind if you found a new sweater in your room every once in a while, would you?" She asked with a smile as her head immediately popped back into the room.

Ford shook his head slightly in reply, his smile still present. "No, not at all."

It only took another week before Ford found another sweater accompanied by a complimentary note. He wore it the next morning.


	2. Consolation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Consolation
> 
> Rating: k
> 
> Characters: Mabel Pines, Stanford Pines, Stanley Pines (mentioned), and Dipper Pines (mentioned)
> 
> Word Count: ~1100
> 
> Summary: After running into her grunkle after a nightmare, Ford decides to share something with her from his past in hopes to bring her spirits up.

Mabel abruptly jolted awake from her bed with a yelp, breathing heavily, heart pounding as she felt tears streaming down her face. Her grip on her blanket tightened for comfort as she glanced to the side with a frown. _2:30 am_. While she checked the time, she also noticed that her brother was sound asleep on the other side of the room. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved that he wasn't awake to witness her outburst or not. Either way, she decided that she should try to leave the room and take her mind off the horrors she dreamt of and slid off her bed, silently making her way out of the attic and down the stairs to the kitchen. Maybe a glass of water could help calm her nerves.

She insentiently rubbed the sides of her crossed arms as she entered the kitchen, pushing a nearby chair to the counter so she could climb up and reach the cabinet filled with various glasses. As soon as she grabbed a cup she made a beeline to the sink, where she eagerly filled the glass up with water.

She swiftly chugged the beverage down, feeling somewhat relieved by the time she left the glass in the sink and started to make her way back to the attic. However on her trip back, something unexpectedly slammed into her in the hallway, knocking her onto the floor with a moan.

"Mabel?" A calm voice softly called out—Mabel recognized it as Ford's. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to ram into you like that." He added as he proceeded to extend his hand towards her, offering to help her back onto her feet. She accepted the gesture, pulling herself up.

Her lips trembled as she struggled to find the words to speak a response. "I-I...I..." A tear slipped down her face, thinking back to her dreadful nightmare.

"It's okay—you don't need to say anything if you don't feel comfortable." He said in a comforting tone as soon as he noticed her mortified expression. He immediately recognized the reasons for her behavior, and found the situation all too familiar. "Though I think I might have something that may help take your mind off things for a while." He stated with a small smile. "Come along, Mabel."

She gladly took his invitation and followed Ford into the room where he slept (when he wasn't randomly passing out against some table down in the lab from overexerting himself). Mabel lingered in the doorway as she watched her grunkle stroll over to a nearby bookcase.

"Let's see here..." Ford trailed off as he scanned the shelves, pulling out a thick brown book with a slightly worn spine. "Ah—here it is!" He exclaimed enthusiastically, smiling when he recognized the cover.

She slowly made her way over to her grunkle. "Wait, what _is_ that?" Mabel chimed in questionably, blinking away any remaining tears as her brows quirked up in curiosity.

He lowered the item enough for her to observe it. " _Childhood Memories_ ," she read the cover's text aloud, tracing the letters lightly with her fingers. She glanced up, her face brightening. "You mean you have a scrapbook too, Grunkle Ford?"

He shrugged. "Well, more or less. My mother made it and gave it to me as a gift when I left the house." Ford smiled as he brought the album back up to his chest. "Wouldn't you know—the knucklehead actually kept this thing after all these years." He mumbled to himself with a slight shake of his head.

"I have one too! I've actually been working on it throughout the whole summer." Mabel said triumphantly, smiling widely. "I can show you it sometime, just like you're gonna show me yours!"

"Sure, sounds good, kid." He responded with a nod of approval, reaching down to affectionately ruffle her hair. Mabel couldn't help the grin that continued to spread across her face. "Now, let's get back to this, shall we?" He questioned while gesturing to the photo album.

And before Ford could say anything else, Mabel had already scurried over to the couch to have a seat, eager to get a peak of what her grunkle was about to show her. Her feet swung back and forth as Ford took a seat beside her. She snuggled into his side as she watched him open up the album's cover, revealing pictures of two identical twin newborns.

"Wow—I never knew you two looked so much alike when you guys were little." She commented with a grin, bringing her hands up to her cheeks as she gushingly added, "And you two are so adorable!"

Ford let out a genuine laugh as he continued to flip through the pages with Mabel. Most of the pictures she saw were filled with two children that were always near each other, all smiles and getting along, with the occasional rambunctious moments of Stan. The two carried on through the book, until Mabel picked up something and abruptly stopped Ford's page flipping. She pointed to a picture of two nine-year-old twins grinning ear-to-ear at the beach, noticing a slight difference in appearance between them.

"Wait a sec—how come you have glasses, but Grunkle Stan doesn't? Did he not have to wear any?"

Ford snorted in response, grinning smugly. "Oh, his eyesight was just about as bad as mine. He just decided not to wear any glasses. Thought he looked better without them, despite how much he really needed them."

"I think Grunkle Stan would've looked much better with glasses." She piped in with a smile, followed by a brief yawn.

Ford continued to go through the scrapbook, and found himself so absorbed in observing the remaining pictures that he didn't notice at first that his great niece had already started to doze off. Though as soon as he finished looking through the album, he then glanced to his side to check on Mabel, who had fallen asleep against him. He couldn't help but warmly smile at the sight. And before he could attempt hoisting the sleeping child into his arms to bring her up to her room, he felt a wave of exhaustion run through him. His lack of sleep the past couple days was starting to catch up with him.

Not wanting to risk disturbing his niece who was now sleeping soundly, he decided to stay put and found himself wrapping an arm securely around her as he started to doze off as well. He eventually joined Mabel in a peaceful deep slumber, taking comfort in the warmth their bodies shared.

The two found themselves covered by a blanket when they woke up later in the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Still got 9 more to post, so look forward to them, I guess? Also sorry it took a while to post the next one. Comments and so forth are appreciated. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Next prompts will be added soon (there are 10 of them so far that I've written. And there are longer ones, haha.) Comments and so forth are appreciated. :)


End file.
